Articles of wearing apparel for training



July 5, 1966 1.. J. CARIFFE, JR

ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL FOR TRAINING Filed Oct. 13. 1965 J INVENTOR LOUIS J. CARIFFE, JR.

FIG. 2

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,258,853 ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL FOR TRAINING Louis J. Carilfe, Jr., 213 E. Lockwood, Webster Groves, M0. Filed Oct. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 495,503 5 Claims. (Cl. 36-1) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in articles of wearing apparel and more particularly to a method and device for designating left and right sections forming a pair of articles of wearing apparel.

Children often encounter difiiculty in determining which shoe of a pair fits the left foot and which shoe fits the right foot. The same problem often arises in the case of gloves where the child has difiiculty in determining which glove fits the right hand and which glove fits the left hand. It seems that children have little or no difliculty in slipping the particular article on the body. However, because of the similarity of sizes and shapes of each member of a pair of gloves or shoes, confusion often arises in the mind of the child. Because of this similarity in the articles of a pair, it is often quite diflicult to train the child to put the proper article on the proper appendage.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a pair of articles fitting left and right appendages of the body which enable a child to easily determine which of the articles of the pair fit the left and right appendages.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pair of articles of wearing apparel of the type stated, which aid in training a child to determine which of the articles fits the left and which of the articles fits the right appendages.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pair of articles of wearing apparel of the type stated which can be rapidly and inexpensively manufactured and which has a unique aesthetic appearance.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provided a method of instructing children and teaching them to determine which article of a pair of articles of wearing apparel fits the left and right appendages.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of the type stated which substantially reduces the supervision required for a child to place the proper article of a pair on the proper appendage of the body.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings 1 Sheet):

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a pair of shoes constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention and illustrating the right half of a design applied to the right shoe and the left half of a design applied to the left shoe; and

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of a pair of gloves constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention and illustrating the right half of a design applied to the right glove and the left half of a design applied to the left glove.

Generally speaking, the present invention relates to a pair of articles having left and right sections, such as shoes and gloves. Each of the articles forming part of the pair is provided with a familiar design to children where the left article is provided with the left half of the design and the right article is provided with the right half of the design. The child viewing the article knows that the left half of the design is associated with the left half of the body and the right half of the design is asso- 3,258,858 Patented July 5, 1966 ciated with the right half of the body. Accordingly, the child is capable of recognizing that the article having the left half of the design such as the left shoe fits the left foot and the right half of the design on the right shoe fits the right foot.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawings which illustrate practical embodiments of the present invention, A designates a pair of shoes comprising a left shoe 1 and a right shoe 2. The actual construction of the body of the shoe is conventional and is, therefore, not described in detail herein. The left shoe 1 generally comprises a shoe upper 3 mounted on a sole 4 and having a foot receiving aperture 5. The right shoe generally comprises a shoe upper 6 mounted on a sole 7 and having a foot receiving aperture 8. The shoes 1, 2 may be provided with innersoles, etc. (not shown). Each of the shoes 1, 2 is also provided with inner pads or so-called sock liners 9, 10 respectively.

Imprinted on or otherwise afiixed to the upper surface of the inner pad 9 in the region of the shoe receiving aperture 5 is the left half of a design 11. Also imprinted on or otherwise affixed to the inner pad 10 in the region of the foot receiving aperture 8 is the right half of a design 12. The left and right halves 11, 12, respectively of the design are located in the region of the foot receiving apertures 5, 8 respectively so that they are easily visible by the wearer. seen that the design selected is a face and that the left half of the face is imprinted on the inner pad 9 of the left shoe 1 and the right half of the face is imprinted on the inner pad 10 of the right shoe 2.

The designs 11, 12 are preferably located near the inner margins of the sock liners 9, 10, respectively so that when the two shoes 1, 2 are placed in side-by-side relationship,

it is easy for a child to determine by visual appearance which half of the design is the left half and which half is the right half. The child would immediately recognize the error of selection of the right and left shoe if the design halves did not match.

In this connection, it should be recognized that the design can be imprinted on the pads by means of a stencil or any other conventional printing means known in the printing art. It should also be recognized that the designs may be on a suitable backing which can be applied by a conventional adhesive. Furthermore, the design may be imprinted on a decal which may be applied to the inner pads. The present invention is not limited to any particlular method of applying each of the halves of the designs to the respective shoes. With regard to the design itself, it should be understood that any suitable design may be employed and the invention is not limited to the face illustrated in the drawings. Any design which is capable of being divided into two halves which are easily recognizable by a child as being left and right halves can be employed in the present invention. The present invention is not necessarily limited to the placing of the design on the inner pad of the shoe and the design may be placed in any convenient location as desired. For example, the halves of the design may be placed on the outer surface of the shoe uppers if they lend an aesthetic appearance to the shoes.

In use, the child attempting to put on a pair of the shoes of the present invention will recognize that the shoe 1 having the left half 11 of the design is associated with the left side of the body and will fit the left foot. Similarly, the child will recognize that the shoe 2 having the right half 12 of the design is associated with the right side of the body and will fit the right foot. In this manner, the child can put on his own pair of shoes without the supervision By further reference to FIGURE 1, it can be of an older person. By continually wearing shoes of this type, the chlid will soon learn which of the shoes is to be worn on the left foot and which of the shoes is to be worn on the right foot. a

It is also possible to provide a pair of gloves B having a left glove 20 and a right glove 21 which are constructed in accordance with and embody the present invention and which are illustrated in FIGURE 2. The actual construction of the body of the gloves is conventional and is, therefore, not described in detail herein. The left glove 20 includes a hand portion 22 with the fingers 23. The right glove 21 includes a hand portion 24 with the fingers 25.

Imprinted on or otherwise afllxed to the upper surface of the hand portion 22 of the glove 20 is the left half 26 of a design. Also imprinted on or otherwise affixed to the upper surface of the hand portion 24 of the glove 21 is the right half 27 of the design. The design employed in the gloves is similar to the design employed to the shoes A and may also be affixed in the same manner that the design halves are affixed to the left and right shoes 1, 2. The criteria for the selection of the design in the gloves B is the same criteria for selecting the design in the shoes A. It should also be recognized that the design halves may be placed in any suitable location on each of the gloves 20, 21 and the design is not limited to the position as illustrated.

In use, the child attempting to put on a pair of the gloves of the present invention will recognize that the glove 20 having the left half 26 of the design is associated with the left side of the body and will fit the left hand. Similarly, the child will recognize that the glove 21 having the right half 27 of the design is associated with the right side of the body and will fit the glove 21 on the right hand. In this manner, the child can be educated in the same manner as with the use of the shoes A.

It should be recognized that the present invention is not limited to the articles of wearing apparel illustrated, namely shoes and gloves. The present invention can be used with any article of wearing apparel having left and right sections.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims can be made and substituted for those herein shown without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An article of wearing apparel having left and right sections capable of fitting and being placed over left and right appendages of the body, respectively, which appendages are adapted to receive the same, said left section having a left half portion of a design, said right section having a right half portion of the same design, so that if said left and right half portions are placed immediately adjacent to each other said portions coact to produce a total unitary design and when said sections are separated said portions appear as complementary halves of the same design substantially separated by a centerline, said left and right half portions of the design being so located on the left and right sections of the article so that the wearer of this article is capable of distinguishing between left and right sections by visual alignment of the left half portion of the design with the right half portion of the design, thereby properly placing the left and right sections with respect to each other and with respect to the proper appendages of the body.

2. The articles of wearing apparel of claim 1, wherein the articles are shoes.

3. The articles of wearing apparel of claim 1 wherein the articles are gloves.

4. The articles of wearing apparel of claim 2, wherein the left half of the design is placed on the upper surface of the inner pad of the left shoe and the right half of the design is placed on the upper surface of the inner pad of the right shoe.

5. The articles of wearing apparel of claim 3, wherein the right half of the design is placed on the upper surface of the right hand glove and the left half of the design is placed on the upper surface of the left hand glove.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 902,573 11/1908 Fleck 361 2,325,482 7/1943 Curran 21 59 2,646,630 7/1953 Miller 40--2 X 2,650,169 8/1953 Goldstein 402 X JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Examiner. 

1. AN ARTICLE OF WEARING APPAREL HAVING LEFT AND RIGHT SECTIONS CAPABLE OF FITTING AND BEING PLACED OVER LEFT AND RIGHT APPENDAGES OF THE BODY, RESPECTIVELY, WHICH APPENDAGES ARE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE SAME, SAID LEFT SECTION HAVING A LEFT HALF PORTION OF A DESIGN, SAID RIGHT SECTION HAVING A RIGHT HALF PORTION OF THE SAME DESIGN, SO THAT IF SAID LEFT AND RIGHT HALF PORTIONS ARE PLACED IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO EACH OTHER SAID PORTIONS COACT TO PRODUCE A TOTAL UNITARY DESIGN AND WHEN SAID SECTIONS ARE SEPARATED SAID PORTIONS APPEAR AS COMPLEMENTARY HALVES OF THE SAME DESIGN SUBSTANTIALLY SEPARATED BY A CENTERLINE, SAID LEFT AND RIGHT HALF PORTIONS OF THE DESIGN BEING SO LOCATED ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT SECTIONS OF THE ARTICLE SO THAT THE WEARER OF THIS ARTICLE IS CAPABLE OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT SECTIONS BY VISUAL ALIGNMENT OF THE LEFT HALF PORTION OF THE DESIGN WITH THE RIGHT HALF PORTION OF THE DESIGN, THEREBY PROPERLY PLACING THE LEFT RIGHT SECTIONS WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER AND WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPER APPENDAGES OF THE BODY. 